BAROROT: Why smartphone culture will help spur development

The mobile phone is today an integral part of life. Usually a smartphone, it is the first thing many reach for when they wake up, keep it within reach throughout the day, and the last they interact with before dozing off. Indeed, the smartphone is the sun that the universe of our lives revolves around. It is more than just a phone – for making calls and exchanging messages. Its power is unleashed by the Internet, to access video on demand, livestream, social media channels, play games, download and upload content, the list is endless. Besides, many smartphone apps exist, and more continue to be created, to facilitate different aspects of life – from requesting a taxi and ordering food from a restaurant, to making payments, trading on the bourse, deposits and withdrawals, among other functionalities.

An app is a must-have channel for companies to interact with customers. The smartphone is spawning a developer and innovator community to meet this demand. Soon, there will be an app for every action under the sun. With this app explosion, smartphone usage flourishes.

The smartphone also enables livelihoods. With it, one can earn an income by signing up a vehicle for ride-hailing or letting out extra space at home to visitors. The e-commerce wave sweeping is significantly linked to smartphones. Prospective customers can view photos and videos of wares online, pay on mobile money and issue delivery instructions. Over-the-top services have accelerated smartphone usage. Basic phone tasks such as calls and messaging is increasingly on these internet-enabled services. Fortunately, smartphones that are best for advanced technologies, such as 4G are backward compatible to earlier technologies such as 2G and 3G.

This growing smartphone usage has driven data explosion in Kenya and the rest of Africa. The GSM Association’s Mobile Economy sub-Saharan Africa 2018 estimates that as at end of 2017, there were 250 million smartphone connections in Africa, accounting for a third of all connections; with adoption rate expected to double by 2025, to hit two-thirds of total connections.

This is the reason telcos are unrelentingly investing in expanding their smartphone-ready networks, such as 4G. This is to deliver valuable user experience by upping upload and download speeds.

As the smartphone culture takes root in Kenya, industry players and regulators should encourage it to flourish and enable development. First, is by densifying and expanding network coverage.

As much area as possible needs coverage by a network signal, ideally 4G, reasonable enough for indoor coverage. In addition to expanding coverage, providers need to migrate to Internet Protocol platform, with flexibility in delivering different services.

The regulatory environment has to keep up with global technological developments for enhanced speeds and capabilities. Effective regulation has been proven to encourage foreign direct investments, driving partnerships for affordable devices.

In the telco world, like other technologies, change is a constant. It is advanced technologies that determine the fast-changing smartphone capabilities, hence the lag between network evolution and added capabilities.

JOHN BAROROT, chief technology officer, Telkom Kenya.